Helen Goodman: I was about to embark on a paean of praise. Obviously I got ahead of myself. My hon. Friend does an excellent job, as does the whole European Scrutiny Committee—in an extremely thorough way, and on extremely difficult territory—and we are all very grateful to him. As I said earlier, we are prepared to accept his amendment (a) to ensure that our proposals are reviewed again at the end of the year.
	The hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey made a typically thoughtful speech. I hope he accepts that some of the seeds that he planted have flowered. He asked why the Government had not considered in more detail the possibility of a Joint Committee with the House of Lords. Obviously we have thought about that, and obviously the system in the House of Lords is very well respected, but the truth is that the Lords and Commons systems complement each other extremely well. Although Members of the House of Commons are often criticised for their inadequacies in relation to European matters, the Government believe that if we organise the work properly, that unfavourable comparison will be seen to be totally unfair.
	My hon. Friend the Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins) spoke from long experience as a member of a European Standing Committee as well as the European Scrutiny Committee. I hope that what I have said about the composition of the Committees will deal with his concerns.
	The hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) spoke from his deep interest in this matter. He suggested that the Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee should be a Member of Her Majesty's Opposition. We can rule that out absolutely at present because the Committee is in the safe hands of my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk. The hon. Member for North-West Cambridgeshire also gave a principled exposition of his views.
	We have had a thorough debate. I hope that we can come to an agreement and that the motion will be supported. I commend it to the House.
	 Amendment made: (a), in line 1, leave out
	'for the remainder of the current Parliament'
	and insert
	'until 1st January 2009'. — [Michael Connarty.]
	 Amendment made: (e), in line 52, at end add—
	"(5A) The Committee shall have power to send for Members of the European Parliament and officials of the European Commission to give oral evidence before the Committee".'.— [Mrs. May.]
	 Main Question, as amended, agreed to.